LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - British police and regulators raided a slaughterhouse and a meat processor on Tuesday suspected of selling horsemeat as beef, expanding a Europe-wide scandal that has shocked consumers and exposed flawed food safety controls.

In Paris, French prosecutors opened a preliminary judicial investigation to determine whether fraud was committed in the growing scandal.

The prosecutor's office said a judicial inquiry had been opened in the northeastern city of Metz on Monday, but subsequently it was transferred to Paris, where national issues of food security are investigated.

In Britain, the raids on companies were the first by officials investigating horsemeat supplies in a country where the issue has angered consumers and led to several big retailers pulling contaminated products from their shelves.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today confirms that Findus beef lasagne products identified in the UK which tested positive for up to 100% horse meat have been on sale in Ireland. The FSAI has been in contact with Findus since last night to establish which retailers had been supplied this product. Tesco withdrew this product from Irish shelves on Wednesday of this week, but did not notify the FSAI. The FSAI is contacting the retail trade today to ensure this product is withdrawn from sale. The FSAI is advising Irish consumers to check if they have purchased this product and if they have, not to eat it, but to return it to the point of purchase.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has asked gardaí to join the investigation into the presence of horse DNA in beef products at Irish factories.

The request follows the latest test results and the facts previously uncovered at Silvercrest Foods. Mr Coveney said that Rangeland Foods last Thursday notified his department of its use of Polish meat ingredients in some burger products. The company, which produces beef burgers, has suspended production.

A Tyrone-based company has been named as the supplier of halal food containing traces of pork DNA for use in British prisons.

The British Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has suspended 3663 — a supplier of meat to prisons — after discovering that food products may contain traces of non-Halal meat, despite being sourced from McColgan Quality Foods Limited , which is a properly Halal-certified supplier.

3663 have said they are “shocked” and described as “wholly unacceptable” that some of the Halal products they supplied were found to contain pork DNA due to McColgan Quality Foods being accredited by the Halal Food Authority.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said that horse DNA has been found in some beef burger products on sale in supermarkets. The meat came from two processing plants in Ireland, Liffey Meats and Silvercrest Foods, as well as the Dalepak Hambleton plant in the UK. The burgers were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland.

A total of 27 products were analysed, with ten of them containing horse DNA, while 23 of them tested positive for pig DNA. Horse meat accounted for approximately 29% of the meat content in one sample from Tesco.

The FSAI said that the findings do not pose a risk to public health. However, it said that it raises concerns about the traceability of meat ingredients. Retailers have said they are now removing all implicated batches of the beef burgers.

CORK’S Franciscan Well brewery will soon start exporting their beers and stouts all over the world after they were bought by international brewer Molson Coors.A new brewery, employing 10 people, will be built in the Cork Docklands to expand production from 4,000 kegs to 150,000 kegs each year.The Franciscan Well brewery and bar, located on the North Mall, will continue to operate as it currently does.It was started in 1998 and some of its popular products include Friar Weisse, Shandon Stout, Blarney Blonde, Rebel Red and Rebel Lager.The new Cork brewery is expected to be operational later this year.The Franciscan Well range is currently available in Cork, Galway and Dublin but the new brewery will allow their beers to be exported and sold in the UK, Canada and the US where there is strong demand for Irish beers.Shane Long, one of the founders of the Franciscan Well, said they were over the moon with the deal and looked forward to expanding their operations.“It was very important that the new brewery would be based in Cork as we didn’t want to go anywhere else,” he said.“The Rebel Red and Shandon Stout will be the first that will be exported and it highlights the popularity of craft beers. We have been around for the past 15 years but in the last two years we have seen a huge upsurge in demand,” he said.Molson Coors said they expect the volume of craft beer sales to increase ten fold by 2017, from 24 million to approximately 235 million. Mr Long said they would continue to experiment with new products and seasonal versions of their existing beers.

Drinkaware.ie and Insomnia Collaborate to Offer Half Price Coffee in January

Wednesday, 09 January 2013 12:19

This January, drinkaware.ie and Insomnia Coffee Co. are offering you half-price coffees to help you pace your drinking!

We've partnered up with Insomnia to help you pace yourself and make the most of your evenings out. Just present the voucher, which can be printed here, at any Insomnia or Insomnia Barista @ Spar store after 4pm, and you'll get 50% off a coffee of your choice.

January is a time when many people resolve to drink at a more moderate level," said Fionnuala Sheehan, chief executive of Drinkaware.ie.

Innocent Drinks will be popping up its headquarters located at 2 Chatham Row, Dublin 2 from Wednesday, 9 January until Friday, 18 January.

Consumers are being invited to pop in during those days and grab an Innocent Smoothie. All they have to do is tweet or write a Facebook post pledging to do something good or they can cycle on the goodness bicycle.

The goodness message will encapsulate an act of goodness they want to do followed by #innocentgoodness. This can be as simple as a pledge to smile at a stranger or park the car and hop on the bike.

Food and drink exports have topped €9bn for the first time, up 2pc on 2011, with exports to Asia up 75pc since 2010, according to figures for 2012 released today by Bord Bia.

“Despite falling global commodity prices, lower output in some sectors and the continued weakness in consumer spending in established markets, the Irish food industry has delivered another robust export performance,” said Aidan Cotter, chief executive, Bord Bia.

“The continued diversification into new and emerging markets, benefitting further from favourable exchange rates, should be welcomed.”

Kerry Group and Dermot Desmond among winners at B & F Awards for Irish Businesses

Wednesday, 19 December 2012 16:43

Glenilen Farm, Kerry Group, Dr Pearse Lyons, Dermot Desmond and Duncan Niederauer were all honoured on the night to fhte 18th of December 2012 at the 38th Business & Finance Awards for Irish Business, which were attended by 800 guests at the Convention Centre Dublin last night.

Glenilen Farm won the Enterprise of the Year (New Business Category) award, while Ventisys was given a special recognition award. The other shortlisted companies in the category were Island Shipping, Sky Frame Builders and Voya.

Tralee-headquartered Kerry Group, which employs 24,000 people around the world and generates annual revenues of €5.3bn, was named Company of the Year. Other shortlisted companies for this award were Aer Lingus, First Derivatives, Openet, Paddy Power, PCH International, Providence Resources plc and Smurfit Kappa Group.

Agri Food Exporters Brace Themselves for 30% Increase in Shipping Costs in January

Tuesday, 18 December 2012 10:14

Agri-food exporters brace themselves for a 30% shipping cost increase in January as cartel of deep sea shipping lines plan to force through the dramatic price rise.

The major deep sea shipping companies, led by Maersk Line who handle an estimated 40% of Irish agri-food and fish exports to non EU countries, have notified their Irish customers that they will apply a $1,500 per container price increase as of the 1st January 2013. This is an approximate 30% increase on the current rates for a 40 foot refrigerated container to Asia, and an approximate 50% increase in rates to Africa.John Whelan, chief executive of the IEA, stated ’’This will impact heavily on all Irish agri-food and fish exporters, who use these shipping lines for exports outside the EU and will add an estimated 10% to their export costs. This is not an increase that can be passed on and will inevitably lead to lost export sales’’.

Total Produce plc is to buy 65pc of Grandview Ventures Limited which trades as the Oppenheimer Group, in two stages for a total price of up to €32m.

Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, the Oppenheimer Group provides fresh fruit and vegetable produce to its retail, wholesale and foodservice customers throughout the United States and Canada. The group has a network of growers around the world and operates from a number of locations throughout North America.

It had sales of CDN$525m (€410m) in 2011, had operating profits on an adjusted basis of CDN$11m (€8.6m) before minorities and will have net assets of approximately CDN$20m (€15.6m) at completion.

In January 2013, Total Produce will acquire a 35pc shareholding for an initial cash payment of CDN$15m (€11.7m). An additional consideration for these shares will be made in 2015 if certain profit targets are met. A further 30pc shareholding will be purchased in 2017 for a price that will be determined based on future profits.

The newly Refurbished Teagasc Office in Ennis, County Clare was officially opened on Thursday, 6 December, by Fr Harry Bohan. Speaking at the event Fr Harry Bohan stressed the importance of farming in the life and economy of County Clare.

He said: “The family farm and community are at the very core of rural life in County Clare. In recent years, there has been a recovery of our deep connection with the land. The need to balance global and local is paramount. We must balance large scale agribusiness with small producers. Sustainability is the new buzzword. “

He praised the Teagasc Advisory Service in County Clare for their sterling work over the years. “In the opening of this refurbished facility, Teagasc has renewed its commitment to farming and rural development. Teagasc are in a privileged position. They must pioneer new and innovative ways of income generation.”

Clonakilty Blackpudding Co has reported a 67pc increase in exports to the UK for this year, growing from 1.5 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes of product exported weekly.

It recently secured a supplier agreement with Tesco resulting in the Clonakilty black pudding product now being available across 340 stores in England and Wales.

The Cork company now supplies over 600 stores across the UK including household retail names such as Budgens, ASDA, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges as well as a range of butchers, farm shops and independent stores.